


Happy Birthday, Daryl Dixon

by dixons_saviours



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Gen, How Daryl got his crossbow, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Maybe Merle isn't such a bad brother afterall, Past Abuse, Pre-Apocalypse, Pre-Zombie Apocalypse, Teasing, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:53:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27179512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dixons_saviours/pseuds/dixons_saviours
Summary: It's Daryl's birthday, and he's expecting the same as always - to be forgotten and miserable.Though maybe, he might end up being pleasantly surprised.Short one-shot backstory for Daryl & Merle.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Happy Birthday, Daryl Dixon

Daryl slunk underneath the thin cover of his bed, the shabby mattress creaking beneath him as he shuffled about in order to attempt to get comfortable, though the attempts were to no avail as he continuously tossed and turned. 

Today was his birthday. Not that he’d expected anything to come of it. He didn’t like attention being directed on him on the best of days - barely anyone he spoke to even knew when his birthday was as he’d never bothered to say. But still, he’d have appreciated something small from his family, but with his mother gone and Merle away at Military camp that only left his father. Well, his father had given him something for his birthday but it wasn’t the kind of present Daryl was expecting - his gift being in the form of numerous deep bruises that littered his scarred skin... as well as a few cuts that had barely scabbed over.

He had barely begun to fall asleep around an hour or so later when the door opened and closed; Daryl merely assumed it was his drunken father heading out, remaining curled up beneath his blanket. Even then he didn’t seem to register the heavy footsteps approaching his bedroom door, the wood rotten and coming apart in places where excessive force had obviously been applied - the hinge swinging open which caused Daryl to jolt.

“I-I already told ya! I don’t know where ya lighter went!”

“...Damn baby brotha, been smokin’ crack without me?~”

“...Merle”

“Naw it’s the sandman~ come to give yer sweet dreams- course it’s me dumbass, expectin’ someone else?”

Daryl sat up at this, gripping the blanket and yanking it from his head - causing his short hair to stick up in places.

“I thought you were... at that military camp”

“Naw got kicked out”

The answer that came from Merle didn’t exactly surprise Daryl though he was curious as to why he’d been kicked out.

“Decided they didn’t want a monkey?”

“Watch yer mouth baby brotha... Naw I punched an officer in the face, was worth it to see his teeth come out~”

Merle smirked as he sat on the edge of his brother's bed, stupidly reenacting the whole thing - punching the air to demonstrate how the officer ended up with 5 missing teeth; the whole charade causing Daryl to roll his eyes.

“Yer crazy y’know that brother?”

“I know I am, but that makes two of us~”

Merle smirked out, suddenly leaning back, his arm flinging itself around his brother's shoulders - the elder Dixon brother resting his forehead against Daryl’s.

“Yer high or somethin’?”

“Not enough to forget what day it is today....Happy birthday baby brotha~”

Daryl felt his heart rate drop at this, unable to process what had just been said to him - no way had Merle actually remembered his birthday. Half of the time his elder brother couldn’t remember what he had eaten for dinner. Though he allowed a small smile to appear on his lips as he leaned against Merles forehead.

“Thanks bro~ I suppose yer ain’t got me a present?~”

“Naw I do~ yer 19 now ain’t ya?”

Daryl raised an eyebrow at this though tentatively nodded - why the hell would his brother need to know how old he was to give him this supposed present?

“Well then~ I do got a present for ya~”

“Yer? What is it?”

Merle said nothing else, instead he stood from the mattress that creaked slightly with the extra weight being lifted off it, he headed to his own bed and crouched to access underneath - gripping a large box and hauling it out, grunting as the weight of it dragged across the wooden floor.

“Was savin’ this for last year…. but I was in jail if yer remember”

“Yer I do-“

Merle grinned like an idiot, just about managing to lift the box up from the floor, dumping it on Daryl’s lap - his knees jolting from the sudden weight that had been suddenly dropped on top of him. He shot a glare to his elder brother, narrowing his eyes, unimpressed Merle thought the whole situation was rather funny.

“Ya bastard, that hurt”

“Didn’t think yer were a sissy~”

Merle reclaimed his seat beside Daryl, roughly nudging his side in order to get his attention back onto his present. Slowly, he began to undo the clips that held the large black case together, whatever it was, it certainly looked expensive. It almost looked out of place being inside their rundown home.

As he tentatively lifted the lid, he let out a surprised noise, inside the padded velvet that coated the interior of the case was a crossbow, neatly tucked beside it were a bundle of arrows that were decorated with green and white tips. 

“What ya done with Merle? Ain’t no way he’d give me summat like this-“

“I know ya don’t think I care bout ya, but I do, maybe I’ll teach yer to track an we can shoot some deer with it~”

Daryl carefully lifted the weapon from its case, handling it as if it were glass as he admired it. He wasn’t even aware of the smile that had appeared on his face, he was somewhat worried he’d open the lock and find a cruel joke present like a trumpet - knowing Merle anyway. 

“Wait… how’d you afford summat like this?”

“Always better not to ask questions baby brotha, yer like it?”

“Yeah…”

Daryl placed the crossbow back into the case before shutting it, lowering it down onto the floor carefully; turning to face Merle as he gave another smile - this one however, was more subtle than his last one, the last thing he wanted was his brother poking fun at him for being emotional.

“Thanks bro, maybe this birthday weren’t so bad afterall~”

Merle reached out his left hand, purposely ruffling Daryl's short mop of hair and messing it up. He merely laughed in response as his brother complained.

“Ain’t nobody gonna care bout you like I do, now get your lazy ass up and dressed, we’re goin’ hunting~”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sat in my notes for ages, and only now just decided 'what the heck' so finished it, polished it off and posted it!
> 
> I love Daryl & Merle soooo much, my favourite pair of brothers <3   
> It's a shame we'll probably never get to see what they were up to before the outbreak happened, so, I decided to write something-  
> You never know how Daryl got his crossbow (at least, I don't think you do? I tried researchin', but I didn't find anything) so I liked to imagine he got it as a surprise gift from Merle (uh, Merle may or may not have stolen it...or obtained it in some...illegal way, but, it's the thought that counts right?)
> 
> I may write more for these two <3
> 
> Also fun fact, the part where they're resting foreheads was inspired by a pic I found of Norman and Michael, both in costume tho Michael had his bayonet arm slung around Norman, the pair resting their foreheads against each other sooooo I wanted to add it somehow, Merle may be an asshole but he does care for Daryl-


End file.
